Ricker & Baumgartner Win Grand Prix SBX At Tamarack

Snow continued to pound Tamarack, Idaho during Sunday’s Grand Prix SBX—also the Visa U.S. Snowboardcross Championships. On a soft, semi-technical (and sometimes slow) course, Canada’s Maelle Ricker and Nick Baumgartner beat the field in the women’s and men’s events, respectively. Following Maelle were Alaskan Callan Chythlook-Sifsof and Christelle Doyon of Canada. Austria’s Markus Schairer and Alex Deibold of Vermont rounded out the men’s podium behind Baumgartner.

Straight off her win at Mount Baker’s Legendary Banked Slalom, Maelle Ricker continues to prove that she is one of the fastest women on snow. Lindsey Jacobellis, who is usually battling it out for an SBX podium spot, chose not to compete after bruising her knee and breaking her helmet in a fall during Saturday’s pipe event (she finished second). Missing from the men’s event were Nate Holland, who broke a binding disc in an early heat (tearing his binding from his board), and Seth Wescott, who broke his arm during a World Cup in Japan last week.

The final event (and the only SBX) of the Grand Prix series also served as the Visa U.S. Snowboardcross Championships. Taking home those titles and the green National Champion blazers were the top U.S. finishers, Chythlook-Sifsof and Baumgartner.

Snowboardcross riders are off to Lake Placid, New York for the State Farm U.S. Snowboard Cup on March 10 and 11. The World Cup season will wrap up in Quebec on March 17.